1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a door lock device used in a vehicle.
2) Description of the Related Art
An example of door lock devices is provided with a lock mechanism configured to transmit an action of an opening lever, through an outside handle operated to open a door, to a latch mechanism in an unlocked state. The lock mechanism is also configured to invalidate the action in a locked state so as not to transmit the action to the latch mechanism.
The lock mechanism includes a link portion, which moves to an unlocking position at which the action is transmitted to the latch mechanism and a locking position at which the action is not transmitted to the latch mechanism. The link portion is interlocked with an input shaft rotatably disposed in the lock device. The input shaft is engaged with an output shaft which transmits to the input shaft rotation of a key cylinder operated with a key from outside the vehicle. A recess portion and a projection portion may be provided at the input shaft and the output shaft so as to engage the recess portion and the projection portion and transmit a rotational force between the input shaft and the output shaft. The link portion is connected with a lock button interlocking unit configured to transmit an operation of an inside lock button from inside the vehicle to the link portion.
Rotation of the output shaft by the operation with the key is applied to the input shaft as the rotational drive force. The rotational drive force is then transmitted to the link portion via the input shaft, so that the link portion is switched between the unlocking position and the locking position. On the other hand, the operation of the inside lock button is transmitted to the link portion via the lock button interlocking unit, so that the link portion is switched between the unlocking position and the locking position, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-147084.
In the door lock device described above, when the key is operated, the link portion moves to the unlocking position or the locking position so as to switch the state of the lock mechanism, and the link portion and the lock button interlocking unit are interlocked so as to operate the inside lock button. On the other hand, when the inside lock button is operated, the link portion moves but the link portion and the input shaft are not interlocked, so that the operation is not transmitted to the key cylinder. That is, the key cylinder is configured such that a direction in which the key is inserted is always the same. In the door lock device, the input shaft is thus connected to the link portion with an idling range in the rotation of the input shaft. That is, movement of the input shaft is transmitted to the link portion so as to move the link portion, but the idling range in which the rotation of the input shaft is idled is provided such that movement of the link portion is not transmitted to the input shaft.
In the door lock device provided with the idling range of the input shaft, the input shaft may be arbitrarily rotated within the idling range even when the input shaft is not engaged with the output shaft. Therefore, the door lock device supplied as a unit element may be assembled to a door such that rotational ranges in which the input shaft is rotated clockwise and anticlockwise for locking and unlocking the door are different from each other. Of course, it is possible to insert the output shaft in the input shaft that has been assembled in this manner. However, in the door lock device in which the output shaft is inserted in the input shaft that has been assembled such that the rotational ranges are different, extents to which the key is rotated to move the link portion to the unlocking and locking positions will be different, too. For example, the extent to which the key is rotated to move the link portion to the unlocking position will be greater than that to move the link portion to the locking position. Consequently, operations with the key will be unnatural to an operator. A rotational phase of the input shaft may be adjusted at the time of assembling the door lock device to the door, but the assembly process of the door lock device will then be complicated.